Large quantities of natural gas are available in many areas of the world, and natural gas is predicted to outlast oil reserves by a significant margin. However, natural gas reserves have been found in remote areas where it is uneconomical to develop the reserves due to the lack of local markets for the gas and the high cost of transporting the gas to distant markets. This high cost is often related to the extremely low temperatures needed to liquefy the highly volatile gas during transport. An alternative is to locally convert the natural gas to liquid hydrocarbon products that can be transported more cost effectively. Processes for converting light hydrocarbon gases, such as natural gas, to heavier hydrocarbon liquids are generally known in the art.
One such process, commonly known as gas to liquids (GTL) production, involves the conversion of natural gas to synthesis gas (syngas) comprising hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), followed by feeding the syngas to a Fisher-Tropsch (FT) process for conversion to primarily C5+ hydrocarbons via a Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The GTL production includes process steps that consume hydrogen. It would be desirable to achieve optimization of the GTL production by managing hydrogen production and distribution. Managing hydrogen generated from natural gas or from other sources in accordance with the present invention provides for optimization of the FT process and the overall GTL production plant and increases process flexibility and reliability.